Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June 2019 to Question 259015, Antisocial Behaviour, what recent assessment he has made of the importance of anti-social behaviour case reviews to reducing levels of anti-social behaviour.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 (“the 2014 Act”) introduced the anti-social behaviour (ASB) Case Review, also referred to as the ‘Community Trigger’, in order to enhance local accountability. This is an important measure which gives victims of persistent ASB the ability to request a formal case review by the relevant bodies where a locally defined threshold is met.
The 2014 Act requires the relevant bodies in a local government area to publish data on the ASB Case Review. Requiring local areas to provide this information to central Government would place additional burdens on the police, local authorities and other local agencies.
Use of the ASB Case Review and other ASB powers is kept under review through the Home Office’s Anti-social Behaviour Strategic Board which brings together a range of partners and representatives from key agencies and Government departments.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Community Trigger cases have been activated in each year since 2014 by local authority.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
We do not centrally collate data on anti-social behaviour (ASB) case review requests, often referred to as the ‘Community Trigger’.
The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 sets out that relevant bodies in a local government area must publish at least annually information covering the number of applications for ASB case reviews received, the number of times the threshold for review was not met, the number of reviews carried out, and the number of the reviews that resulted in recommendations being made. One relevant body can publish the information on behalf of all relevant bodies in an area.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the total amount of charges to people for calls made to the 101 line was in each year since that line has been in operation.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office does not hold information on total amount of charges for calls to 101.
The Home Office is reviewing charges for the 101 non-emergency telephone number.
While it may not be an option for everyone, the public can also report non-emergency crimes online via forces’ websites, free of charge. The Home Office is supporting the digital transformation of policing through programmes such as the Digital Policing Portfolio (DPP), led by the NPCC. Within the DPP, the Digital Public Contact programme aims to provide appropriate digital channels for the public to report and track crime online, facilitating greater public-police interaction in real time.
The Home Office does not hold data on calls to 101 terminated by the caller.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make calls to the police on the non-emergency 101 number free of charge or require that all funds raised from those call charges be allocated towards frontline policing.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office does not hold information on total amount of charges for calls to 101.
The Home Office is reviewing charges for the 101 non-emergency telephone number.
While it may not be an option for everyone, the public can also report non-emergency crimes online via forces’ websites, free of charge. The Home Office is supporting the digital transformation of policing through programmes such as the Digital Policing Portfolio (DPP), led by the NPCC. Within the DPP, the Digital Public Contact programme aims to provide appropriate digital channels for the public to report and track crime online, facilitating greater public-police interaction in real time.
The Home Office does not hold data on calls to 101 terminated by the caller.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of calls made to the police on the non-emergency 101 number are terminated by the caller while they are waiting for a person to answer that call.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office does not hold information on total amount of charges for calls to 101.
The Home Office is reviewing charges for the 101 non-emergency telephone number.
While it may not be an option for everyone, the public can also report non-emergency crimes online via forces’ websites, free of charge. The Home Office is supporting the digital transformation of policing through programmes such as the Digital Policing Portfolio (DPP), led by the NPCC. Within the DPP, the Digital Public Contact programme aims to provide appropriate digital channels for the public to report and track crime online, facilitating greater public-police interaction in real time.
The Home Office does not hold data on calls to 101 terminated by the caller.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what additional support he is providing to Merseyside Police to (a) tackle gun crime in Birkenhead and (b) prevent children and young people from being criminally exploited.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Government is committed to tackling gun crime and is taking steps to address the issue across England and Wales. As set out in our Serious Violence Strategy, this includes measures in the Offensive Weapons Bill to ban certain rapid firing rifles and bump stocks, introducing greater regulation of antique firearms and tightening controls on firearms dealers.
We have also established a multi-agency national firearms threat assessment centre to improve our capability to disrupt the supply and use of illegal firearms; this unit works closely with Merseyside police and the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit.
The Government recognises the devastating impact of county lines activity on children and vulnerable people. We have provided £3.6 million to establish the new National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC) to enhance our cross-border intelligence and activity on county lines and to better safeguard and protect victims of county lines including those who have been criminally exploited. Work is ongoing to protect the exploited and target the offenders, and to date the NCLCC has carried out two separate weeks of operational intensification leading to over 1100 arrests, over 1300 individuals safeguarded and significant seizures of weapons and drugs.
In addition, the Government is providing Merseyside with £700k funding over two years through our £22 million Early Intervention Youth Fund for an early interventions programme targeting young people aged 8-19 to tackle serious violence and criminal exploitation across Merseyside. We have also allocated £3.5 million to Merseyside Police from our serious violence fund to pay for increased operational activity aimed at reducing serious violence.
Since 2018, the Home Office has funded a Serious and Organised Crime Community Coordinator programme in Merseyside. The programme consists of a mix of techniques with the aim of reducing serious and organised crime, reducing its impact on local communities, and protecting the most vulnerable members of society from criminal exploitation.
Funding for Merseyside Police will increase by £18.3 million this year. The Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner has set out her plans to use this funding to recruit 80 more police officers.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, when she expects the internal investigation into complaints against the Dean of Christ Church college Oxford to conclude.
Answered by Caroline Spelman
Uniquely, Christ Church Oxford is a joint foundation comprising both College and Cathedral.
The independent tribunal to investigate a complaint against the conduct of the Dean is taking place under the statutes of Christ Church, not under Church legislation.
Neither the Church Commissioners nor the wider Church of England have any role in setting the timetable or terms of reference for the tribunal.
I am given to understand that the last scheduled hearing is currently timetabled for early July and await the outcome of that process.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, if the Commission will make an assessment of the merits of supplementary heating in the Library Corridor so that the officers of the House standing there are kept warm.
Answered by Tom Brake
The welfare of our staff is of course our principal concern. Whilst the issue of supplementary heating has not been raised by any of the Doorkeepers through the usual management channels, I can confirm that the situation has already been assessed and a simple solution, involving the closing of a fire door, has been identified, which will be implemented immediately, subject to consultation with the fire safety team. In addition, the high level windows in library corridor, which had been contributing to a cold draught in the corridor, have now all been closed.
The Doorkeepers are on post for a maximum of 30 minutes at a time, and the post is rotated daily between a team of 11 Doorkeepers, so the team should find that the proposed solution will deliver immediate benefits to their working environment.
The Library Corridor is not presently heated. It is lined on both sides with bookcases which means there is nowhere to install any radiators, and the pipework to do so currently does not exist.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times his Department, excluding executive agencies and non-ministerial departments, was taken to an employment tribunal for disability discrimination in 2017-18.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
For the year 2017-18, the Home Office was involved in 20 Employment Tribunals where disability discrimination was an aspect of the claim.